May 2017 - 8

Letters to the Editor

ager and director Larry Noyes and his
wife, who are totally voluntary workers) read, "It is a pleasure to send you
the enclosed check for $100 from the
Franklin DBC's participation in District 7's special charity game in support
of Gatlinburg Relief. [See the story in
the February issue, pg. 9.] Unfortunately, we had only five tables at this time
of year, but we are pleased to donate
100% of our game fees to such a necessary and worthwhile cause."
In further discussions with Larry,
I found out that the club normally
charges $2 per person table fees, but
the entire club agreed to pay $5 per
person for this special game. They keep
their expenses low. Because Larry and
his wife volunteer their time, and they
get a complimentary room from the
Macon County Recreation Department, they return 85% of the table fees
back to the players.
This club exemplifies the spirit that
permeates the bridge community and
makes me proud to consider myself a
member.
Thank you, Larry, and the entire
Franklin DBC!
PETE MISSLIN
Vonore TN
Chairman, Gatlinburg Regional

Cruise director

In February, I was a passenger on a
cruise ship that did not offer organized
bridge (a director, classes and duplicate games) unlike some other cruises.
The bridge players typically find each
other through a community bulletin
board or word of mouth, and arrange
their own social, informal bridge on
both the sea days and port days, as
people are available.
On this most recent cruise, Bill
Wheeler, another guest on the cruise,
introduced himself during one of these

8 Bridge Bulletin May 2017

informal sessions where there were
a number of tables playing bridge. He
said that he was a director and bridge
teacher, and he also owned a bridge
club in Ottawa, Canada. He offered to
set up and run a duplicate tournament
on the sea days, if people were interested, which received a most enthusiastic
response.
Bill then worked to make these arrangements, having no playing cards,
no score sheets or boards available to
work with. He got playing cards from
the guest relations office on the ship
and from many of the bridge players.
Bill then set up hands using envelopes
to keep the cards, labeling them with
the board number, the direction of the
player, the respective vulnerability and
who was the dealer. He also created
travelers for us to keep track of the
scores, and a sign-up sheet for us to
enter our names and ACBL numbers.
Bill scored the game manually and
posted the results for us to see, and
then offered to get them included for
masterpoint credit with the ACBL.
We had eight tables on most sea days.
Bill acted as the director, maintaining
order, passing the boards to the right
tables, addressing issues that came up,
and helping several of the players who
had not played duplicate before.
At the end, we all gave him many
thanks and great applause for his efforts, to which he responded with all
humility that we made his cruise more
enjoyable. Kudos to Bill Wheeler, who
made our cruise experience a most
memorable one.
KEITH BRONITT
Scarsdale NY

The only makeable contract

I thought you might find this deal
from the Appleton WI Sectional interesting. Per Deep Finesse, the only

makeable contract is 1♣ by N-S, making par on the deal N-S plus 70.
Dlr: West ♠ 7 4 3
Vul: N-S ♥ K Q 9 5 2
Bd: 28
♦A
♣8543
♠ K Q 10 2
♠J9
♥J43
♥ A 10 8 7
♦8753
♦ 10 9 4 2
♣ A 10
♣QJ6
♠A865
♥6
♦KQJ6
♣K972
LEE PRELLWITZ
Ripon WI

Bowled over by Bermuda

Although my wife and I do not travel
to many tournaments, this year we decided to attend the Bermuda Regional,
and it was the best-run tournament
we have ever attended. For openers,
the tournament is held in a beautiful
venue. Of even more importance to us,
the atmosphere throughout the tournament was amazing. Judy Bussell at
the partnership desk was wonderful
at finding teammates for us. Every
afternoon and every evening, great refreshments were provided. We enjoyed
the formal opening and closing nights.
When we congratulated Kathleen
Keane, the tournament director, at the
closing dinner about how the tournament was conducted, she informed us
that one team was asked not to return
in the future because their behavior
was not in keeping with the atmosphere they strive to maintain. That
was enough to make us want to return.
As an added bonus: My wife, Peggy, and
I became Life Masters at the tournament.
ALLEN SHEARN
Windsor ON
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May 2017
